October 27, 2018: Shabbat morning services at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh are desecrated, as 17 people are shot, 11 of them dying. It was, and remains, the deadliest attack on Jewish people in American history.
Robert Bowers, a man with a history of online anti-Semitism, was shot and arrested by the police. He survived, and was charged with 63 federal crimes and 36 State crimes. As of this writing, his case has not yet gone to trial.
This shooting was part of a culture of bigotry drummed up by Donald Trump and his illegal, immoral Administration. It was reflective of the neo-Nazis marching in Charlottesville, Virginia on August 12, 2017, chanting, "Jews will not replace us!"
The Pittsburgh metropolitan area did not stand for this act, perpetrated in Squirrel Hill, an inclusive place that was once the home of the Rev. Fred Rogers, the longtime host of the PBS children's program Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. This happened in Mr. Rogers' actual neighborhood, and it was treated like a desecration. One of those occasional "(City Name) Strong" movements began, with an accompanying logo, in this case based on the U.S. Steel Corporation's "Steelmark" logo that had been used by the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers since 1962.
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October 27, 2018 was a Saturday. It was the end of the Major League Baseball season, and Game 4 of the World Series was played that night. The night before, we saw the longest game in World Series history, going 18 innings, before Max Muncy hit a home run to give the Los Angeles Dodgers a 3-2 win over the Boston Red Sox.
But that would be the only game won by the Dodgers in the Series. They took a 4-0 lead in the 6th inning of Game 4, only to see the Sox score 3 in the 7th, 1 in the 8th, and 5 in the 9th. The Dodgers came back with 2 runs in the bottom of the 9th, but it wasn't enough, and the Red Sox won, 9-6. The next day, the Sox wrapped the Series up, winning Game 5, 5-1.
There were 9 NBA games played that day. Neither the New York Knicks nor the Brooklyn Nets were scheduled:
* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Charlotte Hornets, 105-103 at the Wells Fargo Arena (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.
* The Chicago Bulls beat the Atlanta Hawks, 97-85 at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
* The Miami Heat beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 120-111 at the American Airlines Arena (now the Kaseya Center) in Miami.
* The Indiana Pacers beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 119-107 at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse (now the Rocket Arena) in Cleveland.
* The Boston Celtics beat the Detroit Pistons, 109-89 at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.
* The Memphis Grizzlies beat the Phoenix Suns, 117-96 at the FedEx Forum in Memphis.
* The Utah Jazz beat the New Orleans Pelicans, 132-111 at the Smoothie King Arena in New Orleans.
* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Orlando Magic, 113-91 at the new Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.
* And the San Antonio Spurs beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 110-106 at the AT&T Center (now the Frost Bank Center) in San Antonio.
There were 11 NHL games played that day:
* The New Jersey Devils beat the Florida Panthers, 3-2 at the Prudential Center in Newark.
* The New York Islanders beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 6-1 at the Wells Fargo Center, which had hosted the 76ers-Hornets game earlier in the day. (The New York Rangers were not scheduled.)
* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Boston bruins, 3-0 at the TD Garden in Boston.
* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Winnipeg Jets, 3-2 at what's now named the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
* The Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Buffalo Sabres, 5-4 in overtime at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus.
* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Nashville Predators, 5-3 at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
* The St. Louis Blues beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 7-3 at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis.
* The Minnesota Wild beat the Colorado Avalanche, 3-2 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 7-1 at the Gila River Arena (now the Desert Diamond Arena) in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona.
* The Washington Capitals beat the Calgary Flames, 4-3 in a shootout at the Saddledome in Calgary.
* And the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Vancouver Canucks, 5-0 at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver.
It was a Saturday, so no NFL games were scheduled. But there were some notable college football games played:
* As is traditional, the last Saturday in October saw "The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party," played on "neutral ground" in Jacksonville. That's a laugh: Not only is TIAA Bank Field, home of the NFL's Jaguars, in Florida, but the University of Florida's Ben Hill Griffin Stadium is 81 miles away, while the University of Georgia's Sanford Stadium is a considerably farther 341 miles away.
Both teams came into the game highly ranked: Georgia was the Number 7 team in the country, Florida the Number 9. Georgia won, 36-17.
* Alabama was then ranked Number 1, but had the week off. Number 2 Clemson went to Tallahassee and beat Florida State, 59-10. Clemson would go on to defeat Alabama in the National Championship Game.
* Number 3 Notre Dame played Navy at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Given that San Diego is a Navy city, it should have been a "home game" for the Naval Academy. But Notre Dame won, 44-22.
* In New Jersey, Rutgers had the week off, while Princeton walloped Cornell 66-0 at Powers Field in Princeton.
* And in New York City, Columbia beat Yale 17-10 at Wien Stadium in Upper Manhattan.
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